Colombia: Paramilitary Successor Groups and New Criminal Bands
Responses to Information Requests - Immigration and Refugee Board of Canada Page 1 of 7 Immigration and Refugee Board of Canada Home > Research Program > Responses to Information Requests Responses to Information Requests Responses to Information Requests (RIR) respond to focused Requests for Information that are submitted to the Research Directorate in the course of the refugee protection determination process. The database contains a seven-year archive of English and French RIRs. Earlier RIRs may be found on the UNHCR's Refworld website. 22 March 2012 COL104030.E COL104030.E Colombia: Paramilitary successor groups and new criminal bands (bandas criminales, bacrim), including areas of operation and criminal activities; state response to successor groups and bacrim, including reintegration of combatants and assistance offered Research Directorate, Immigration and Refugee Board of Canada, Ottawa 1. Successor Groups and New Criminal Bands (Bacrim) InSight - Organized Crime in the Americas (InSight Crime), an NGO dedicated to "the research, analysis and investigation on organized crime in Latin America and the Caribbean" (InSight Crime 7 Mar. 2012), indicates that, after the United Self-Defence Forces of Colombia (Autodefensas Unidas de Colombia, AUC) demobilization in 2006, of more than 30,000 paramilitaries, "many remained at large or abandoned the process;" furthermore, "[n]ew criminal gangs have inherited the paramilitaries' weapons, personnel and modus operandi" in Colombia (ibid. 2 June 2011). Similarly, several sources state that paramilitary successor groups are led by former paramilitary members (Human Rights Watch 2012; The Economist 14 Jan. 2012; InSight Crime 11 Mar. 2011; El País 28 Jan. 2011). The Colombian government has labelled the new criminal bands "bacrim" [derived from the term bandas criminales (Human Rights Watch Feb.
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